Meet Shawn Hatcher – BLC Running for Life Marathon Team Member

Have you ever run a marathon before? I’ve run two Marathons before: Jacksonville Marathon last Christmas and the Boston Marathon this past April. My Boston time was 4hours 14mins, but my goal is under 4 hours this year!!

What is the most exciting thing for me about running the Boston Marathon? Its not as much about the cheers on April 19th as about the journey getting there. Completing each run turns into a series of small personal victories. The friendships you make with others who are training and also experiencing these victories is truly second to none. Discovering these new friends is what is exciting!

Can’t run a marathon without my…I’m a gadget dork and can’t run without my Garmin Forerunner. It’s a cool GPS-enabled watch that displays your pace and the distance you’ve already run. I’m pretty sure it tells time too, LOL!

What does running for the BLC mean to you? Running for the BLC means giving those that are living with HIV/AIDS a sense of hope. I always describe hope as the springboard that one can use to jump over even most daunting obstacles.

How are you training for the Marathon? I’m training for the Boston Marathon this year with the L Street Running Club. They are fantastic club out of Southie with over 1000 members. The Sunday long runs can easily top 180 people, which is very cool (and much needed) when you’re struggling — misery loves company!

Favorite song to get you up Heartbreak Hill? Although I listen to music when I run alone, I don’t when I train with a group and definitely won’t when I run on Marathon Monday. I find it distracting and interrupting my internal dialogue (and screams..LOL!). I will use the screams of “Go Shawn!!!” to get up Heartbreak Hill.

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My son, Ben, who is autistic, volunteers at BLC every Friday. Accompanied by a job coach from his high school, he truly loves working at BLC and looks forward to it every week. In fact, this experience allows him to practice many important life skills, such as taking public transportation, crossing streets safely, greeting his co-workers, in addition to the myriad of skills on the job such as refilling the food bar, labelling the food bar, sweeping, cleaning counters; all skills that Ben will need to develop as he becomes an adult. Ben and his job coach feel completley accepted at BLC with an openess and good nature second to none! This is yet another example of the good work that BLC does!